


Do It For Her

by aesthetic_shitpost



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Doors of Death, Gen, I am so sorry, also sorry i'm so shit at titles, doors of death rewrite, i guess, no i'm not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 23:44:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6171481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aesthetic_shitpost/pseuds/aesthetic_shitpost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Leo closed the Doors of Death.</p>
<p>basically Leo is my sad sad child and he needs more fics</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do It For Her

Percy and Annabeth had just been pulled out of Tartarus. Everyone was gathered around them, happy for the moment, until they realized the problem: the Doors of Death were still open. They needed to be closed. And the only way to do that . . . was from the inside. The question now was, who?

“I should do it,” Nico said. “I have experience in Tartarus. I know what it’s like down there. It should be m-”

“No! You nearly went insane when you were down there. I won’t let you go down there again!” Hazel stood protectively in front of Nico, not letting him near the Doors. “And I also won’t let Percy and Annabeth go back down there. No one should have to be in Tartarus twice.”

“Yeah, but someone’s gonna have to close the Doors. We can’t just leave them open,” replied Jason. He continued before Hazel could go on a rant. “And I’m not saying that it should be Nico or Percy or Annabeth.” He took a breath. “I’m saying that it should be me.” The group of demigods erupted.

“What?! No!” Piper shouted. “I’m not letting you go down there. You’ll die!” Her voice softened. “Have you thought about who you’d be leaving behind? Me, Thalia, everyone. You have too many people who care about you.” Jason sighed.

“Okay.” He looked around. “Then who’s going to close the Doors?” No one volunteered.

“Look no further, Superman.” The voice came from the direction of the Doors. “I think I’ve found just the man for the job.”

“Leo!” Said Piper. “What are you doing?!”

“What I have to,” he replied, for once not joking.

“Leo, you can’t do this.” Piper said, her voice shaking.

“Oh really, Beauty Queen?” He said. “I don’t have any family. You guys are my only friends. No one will miss me.”

“ _We’ll_ miss you.” Piper replied, echoed by murmurs and nods from the rest. “Maybe. I think you’ll just miss having someone around to fix your stuff.” The look in Leo’s eyes said that that hadn’t been a joke.

“Leo, of _course_ we’ll miss you. You’re our _friend_.”

“Am I?” He challenged, a strange light in his eyes. “Because I can’t remember the last time someone had a conversation with me that wasn’t about repairing something.” His gaze swept across the group. No one could meet his eyes. “Why am I doing this now,” he muttered to himself. He raised his voice so that everyone could hear him. “The point is,” he said, “I am going to do this, and no one’s gonna stop me.” He looked around one last time. “I left a note,” he said, “Under my bed.”

“How did you know this would happen?” Hazel asked. “I actually do plan ahead sometimes,” he replied. “The note will explain everything.” He took a deep breath. “Kill Gaea for me, okay?”

He didn’t wait for an answer before pushing the doors shut.

-oOo-

_Hey. I’ll be in Tartarus by the time you read this. Don’t worry about me. By now I’m probably dead anyways. I really don’t think I can last long in there. That’s okay, though. I think that I’m probably better off dead._

_So. You’re probably wondering why I decided to sacrifice myself and close the Doors of Death. Here’s why._

_I don’t matter._

_Everyone else on this ship is way too valuable to the quest to lose. Me, though? I’m just the mechanic. You don’t need me._

_I’ve actually put a lot of thought into this decision. I didn’t just decide to sacrifice myself on a whim. I planned this. I left a letter, didn’t I?_

_Jason and Piper, you guys were the first friends I ever had. Seems like it couldn’t be true, right? Not with the aid of my humor and charm. Unfortunately, running away six times means living on the streets for half your life, and that doesn’t exactly help in the friend-making department. Put that together with my reputation whenever I was in child services, and I was pretty much a guaranteed loner for life until I met you two. What was my reputation, you ask? Well, usually, I wouldn’t tell anyone, but since I’m dead anyway, why not?_

_I killed my mother._

_I was only eight years old. My mom had gone back into the machine shop to get something, I can’t even remember what. Gaea appeared to me. She trapped my mom in the shop, and then she made me lose control._

_It all burned. And because Dirt Face had locked the door, my mom couldn’t get out. I didn’t know what I had done until it was too late. That’s why I hadn’t used my powers until I’d gotten to camp. I was too scared of somebody else getting burned. I still am, to be honest. I still have nightmares about it, even though it’s been seven years._

_You know, I wouldn’t have had to go into foster care if it weren’t for my mom’s sister, Aunt Rosa. After my mom’s death, she refused to take me in. She called me a diablo, a devil. I believed her._

_But back to Tartarus. No one really cares about me. I don’t have any family, you guys are my only friends. I guess there might be people at camp who will miss me, but they barely knew me in the first place. You’ll probably forget all about Leo Valdez by the time you’re all married to each other and popping out babies. I’ll just be a half-gone memory in the back of your heads. The thing is, you know how I said that the kids at camp barely knew me? You guys only scratched the surface._

_For example, here’s something no one knows: I’m only funny because it hurts less. I crack jokes all the time, make bad puns, hit on all of the ladies. It’s all an act. Humor is a good way to hide the pain. You would have known all of this if you had only asked. I might have told someone, and maybe we wouldn’t have ended up here. Maybe I wouldn’t feel as worthless as I do now._

_It seems like every time I walk into a room, someone’s making out on the couch. Every time I try to join a conversation, within the first minute, someone tells me to go hang out with someone else because they want to be alone. Maybe that’s why I want a girlfriend so bad. So that I can know what it’s like to have someone._

_Before I left I probably told you to kick Dirt Face’s ass or something for me._

_Don’t._

_Don’t do it for me._

_Do it for my mother._

_Do it for Esperanza Valdez._

**Author's Note:**

> yes i know that some of them already knew about his past but let me angst in peace okay


End file.
